Yes, it's true. My new novel, Dolly Games is published and will be ready for purchase in about 24 hours. That's Friday, November 18th.
The novel predates the other novels that I have used the characters, Carl Tanner, a Lakota Sioux detective, Julie Shepherd, a former actress who tired of Hollywood and its seamy underbelly and Isaiah Decker, a smart-assed clown who nevertheless has a deep and solemn side. Their original partner, DeeDee Barton, a woman with hidden depths, is included. This story takes place prior to the adoption of the STD Detective Agency for their business name and shows how the group interacted with each other. We also learn how DeeDee Barton came to leave the agency, and why.
I think this story was one of the most satisfying for me to write because it forced me to pay more attention to plotting and storyline. There are plot twists within it that I had to engineer carefully so that they were neither transparent or appeared to have been pulled out of the air. The motivations of the characters had to be strong and true to human emotions. As with all my stories, I tried to exhibit the things in life that motivate people to take the actions that they do. I have tried to make the story both gritty and romantic to show that the softer side of very nearly anyone is always beneath the surface of their apparent personality.
For inspiration, I had to look no further than some of the old film noir movies of my youth. The machinations of powerful people are in the background, but can be felt by the pricipals of the story in every action that sets the circumstances for the plot.
It is my hope that those of you who read this novel will be suitably horrified and appalled by the crimes of Dolly Dagger and follow the actions of Carl Tanner and his partners with relish.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies, It Happens Every Day and others.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
Progress on my new novel
Hello again! Long time, no talk-to! I've been distracted and working diligently on the thriller I started immediately after finishing the sequel to my novel, Gulf of the Plains.
The thriller, titled Dolly Games, takes place in the fictional city of Port Morgan, in which the action in my novels, Eggs of Empire, Taken Apart and Questionable Interests, takes place. You may ask why I have chosen to make up a city as a scene for all these novels when there are so many others to use. That's a good question and I must say that it was a decision of convenience.
Sure, I can bring up from memory any number of physical features in quite a few cities and place action sequences in them, but if I committed an error in memory, people would lambast me for not knowing the city. I would rather not have an innocent mistake detract from the story. For this reason, I have created a city, complete with Interstate highways, low-rent districts, a country club with an attached marina, a shopping district and any number of businesses and restaurants in which my characters and move about. If there is something about the city that any readers find similar to their hometown, they can nod wisely and say, "I'll bet he used to live here to know the town so well!"
At present, the novel is about 90% complete, lacking only a few finishing touches to make certain that there are no errors in context and continuity. Oh, then there's that other thing. I approached a friend for help with a certain thing in the story that I knew nothing about and was told that my friend "would be honored" to help. When the job was only half finished, a job that would take no more than fifteen minutes if done all at once; my friend backed out without any explanation at all. This left me with the job of altering the story to make up for the lack which this caused me. It was vitally necessary because the job my friend was supposed to do would support a vital clue in the story. Leaving the story as it was would be meaningless and amateurish, and it required quite a bit of rewriting to salvage the clue. I am currently occupied with that and have simply taken a short break from it to post in the blog. For those who will not only read the blog, but will also read the book; tell me later if you can find the seam to which I have just alluded. I'm willing to bet that you can't.
The inspiration for the story? One line in an old song. I'll leave that for you, the reader to decide about after you've read the story.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and The Empty Heart: A Collection.
Available on Kindle
The thriller, titled Dolly Games, takes place in the fictional city of Port Morgan, in which the action in my novels, Eggs of Empire, Taken Apart and Questionable Interests, takes place. You may ask why I have chosen to make up a city as a scene for all these novels when there are so many others to use. That's a good question and I must say that it was a decision of convenience.
Sure, I can bring up from memory any number of physical features in quite a few cities and place action sequences in them, but if I committed an error in memory, people would lambast me for not knowing the city. I would rather not have an innocent mistake detract from the story. For this reason, I have created a city, complete with Interstate highways, low-rent districts, a country club with an attached marina, a shopping district and any number of businesses and restaurants in which my characters and move about. If there is something about the city that any readers find similar to their hometown, they can nod wisely and say, "I'll bet he used to live here to know the town so well!"
At present, the novel is about 90% complete, lacking only a few finishing touches to make certain that there are no errors in context and continuity. Oh, then there's that other thing. I approached a friend for help with a certain thing in the story that I knew nothing about and was told that my friend "would be honored" to help. When the job was only half finished, a job that would take no more than fifteen minutes if done all at once; my friend backed out without any explanation at all. This left me with the job of altering the story to make up for the lack which this caused me. It was vitally necessary because the job my friend was supposed to do would support a vital clue in the story. Leaving the story as it was would be meaningless and amateurish, and it required quite a bit of rewriting to salvage the clue. I am currently occupied with that and have simply taken a short break from it to post in the blog. For those who will not only read the blog, but will also read the book; tell me later if you can find the seam to which I have just alluded. I'm willing to bet that you can't.
The inspiration for the story? One line in an old song. I'll leave that for you, the reader to decide about after you've read the story.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and The Empty Heart: A Collection.
Available on Kindle
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